To ask the Minister of Education, following the announcement on interim change to eligibility criteria, for his assessment of how many additional children in North Down will avail of free school meals and uniform grants.

The 2023/24 school census shows 2,976 pupils attending a school in the North Down constituency are entitled to free school meals. While the Department is not able to model the impact of the interim rise in the income threshold for free school meals and uniform grant applications at constituency level, this interim rise seeks to broadly maintain the same number of children and young people able to access these supports in the 24/25 academic year.